Water-gage



(No Model.)

B. W. VANDUZEN. Water Gage.

No. 229,571. Patented July 6,1880.

F /K Q I n 11 M 1 Mtnesses Inventor.-

N. PETERS. PHOTOJJTNOGRAPKER, WASHINGTON. D l v UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

- EZRA W. VANDUZEN, or NEWPORT, KENTUCKY.

WATER-GAG E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 229,571, dated July 6,1880.

Application filed April 12, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EZRA W. VANDUZEN, acitizen of the United States, residing at Newport, in the county ofCampbell and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Water-Gages for Steam- Boilers and I do hereby declarethe following to be a full, clear,'concise, and exact description of thesame, sufficient to enable others skilled in the art to which myinvention appertains to make and use it, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, wherein-Figure 1 is a front elevation of the water I 5 gage applied to asteam-boiler, which is partly broken away to show the water-line and thefloat of the gage. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the gage, and Fig.3 shows a modification in the form of the valve-joint.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures of the drawingsindicate the same parts. My invention has for its object to improve theconstruction and operation of the watergage for steam-boilers for whichLetters Pat- 2 5 ent of the United States No. 37,534. were granted tome, dated January 27, 1863. The essential features of the gage shown insaid patent are a metal tube secured to the top of the boiler, asteam-chamber attached to the 3 top of the tube and provided with adial, an index-finger for thedial mounted upon the end of a crank-shaftor spindle which passes through the steam-chamber, and a stem extendingdown through the tube to connect the 3 5 crank-shaft with a float in theboiler. The crank-shaft is provided with a collar within thesteam-chamber, to fit against the back of the dial and form a valve toprevent the es cape of steam around the shaft, and its rear end enters arecess in a screw-cap at the back of the steam-chamber, and there; bearsagainst the end of an adjusting-screw inserted through the back of thescrew-cap.

By this construction of the gage the collar 4 5 is inadequate to form atight steam-joint, for the reason that it must fit tightly against thedial in order to prevent the steam from passing in front of it andescaping around the spindle, and it cannot be made sufficiently tightfor this purpose without so binding the shaft between the dial andadjusting-screw that it (No model.)

cannot turn freely in its bearings. The shaft must therefore have aslight end play, which allows the steam to enter between the collar anddial, and thus escape.

My improvements to overcome this objection consist, principally, incombining with the shaft and its collar or valve a stufljng-box and anelastic packing placed at the front end of the shaft outside thesteam-chamber, and a spiral spring placed around the rear end of theshaft, within the chamber, to hold the valve or collar up to its seat.The stuffing-box and packing, added to the bearing of the valve, form atight joint, which the tension of the spring constantly preserves, andthereby prevents the passage of steam in front of the valve or collar.

My invention also consists in the method of constructing and applyingthe float to properly and accurately follow the changes of the waterlevel in the boiler and properly transmit its movements to the gage.

1n the accompanying drawings, A represents the steam-chamber of thegage, made of cast metal in the form of a short cylinder, with its frontend secured to the dial B and its rear end closed by a screw-cap, U. Itis fastened in any suitable manner to the end of a short tube, D, whichis screwed into or otherwise adapted for attachment to the top of aboiler, E, and communicates with the interior of both the boiler andchamber.

The front end of the steam-chamber is cast with a hollow central boss,F, extending into the steam-space, to receive the stuffing-box G.

H is the spindle or shaft, having its front bearing in the boss andstuffing-box and its rear bearing in the screw-cap 0. Its front endcarries the index-finger H, to move over the face of the dial, andwithin the steam-chamber it is provided with alateral arm or crank, I,to which the stem J is pivoted, so as to extend down through the tube Dand connect with the float in the boiler.

As shown in Fig. l, the spindle is made with an enlargementwithin thechamber, the front end of which is beveled to form a conical valve, K,and this valvefitsintoa corresponding seat in the end of the boss aroundthe spindle, both seat and valve being ground to form a tight :00 joint.

In Fig. 3 the valve is shown in the form of a collar around the spindle,to bear against the end of the boss, which in this case is made flat.The joint between them may be ground, for the purpose already stated.

L is the spiral spring surrounding the spindle between the valve and endof the recess in the screw-cap, so as to exert its tension lengthwiseofthe spindle, and thus hold the valve or collar up to its seat againstthe boss.

M is an elastic packing placed within the boss, and held in place aroundthe spindle with greater or less pressure by means of the stufling-box.This provision is made to effectually prevent the escape of steam fromthe steam-chamber. it for any reason the ground joint between the valvesand seat should leak.

N is the float attached to the end ot'a tapering arm, and suspendedwithin the boiler by pivoting the arm to an angle-iron, 0. fastened tothe top of the boiler in any secure manner.

This class of boiler-floats are constructed of hollow copper spheres,and if made large enough to possess the proper buoyancy they are toolarge to pass down between the boilerflues, and therefore it'thewaterfalls low enough for the float to touch the flues it will besupported by them and tail to show the condition of the water. Forexample, most floats are submerged in the water about three-fourths oftheir diameter, and it'too large to pass between the flues willbesupported by them when the water above the flues is equal in depth tothe distance the float is sunk; therefore the fall of the water fromthis point does not affect the float, and cannot be recorded. If toovercome this serious detect the float is made small enough to pass downbetween the tines it does not possess the requisite buoyancy under theusual deposit of sediment from the water, because too heavy to operate.

Myinvention with respect to the float consists in making it small enoughto pass between the flues-say about five and one-half inches indiameter-and counterbalance it to a certain extent by a weight, P,applied to its short arm, as shown in Fig. l.

The angle-iron to which the arm is pivoted is formed with a slottedguide, Q, for the short portion of the float-arm, and the gage'stem ispivoted to said arm between the two projecting parts of the angle-iron,and therefore its weight also assists somewhat in counterbalancing thefloat.

The weight P is preferably cast with a recess and cross-bar in its upperend to catch upon the end of the float-arm, although it may be attachedin any other convenient and secure way.

By this means of applying the float it possesses and maintains therequisite buoyancy, and readily follows the changing level of the water.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is- 1. Thesteam-chamber, cast with a hollow central boss, F, receiving thestufling-box through the dial, and projecting into the steamspace toform a seat for the spring valve or collar, substantially as described,for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of the elastic packing, with the hollow central boss,F, the stufiingbox, the spindle, and the joint between the boss and thevalve or collar, substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

3. The combination, with the steam-chamber and index-spindle, of thehollow central boss, F, the elastic packing and stufljng box within theboss, and the valve or collar on the spindle, held to its seat in oragainst the end of the boss by the spring L on the spindle,substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

4. The counterbalanced float combined with the boiler and water-gage,substantially as described, for the purpose specified.

In testimony of which invention I have hereunto set my hand this 1st dayof April, A. D. 1880.

EZRA W. VANDUZEN.

Witnesses:

E. A. ELLSWORTH, J. K. UADY.

